TimLennox.com, since 2007. Politics, Civil Rights, Science, Sociology, Photography, Media + more!
There is no update.
Alabama remains 50th for vaccinating its people.
“I want to encourage everybody to get in line…we need shots in the arm, not on the shelf.”
OK Gov. Where's the line? Why is Alabama dead last??????????????????????????????????????????
Alabama's Jeff Sessions has a lot of support in Alabama, but with the release of the final report on the Trump Administration child-separation policy laying it at Sessions feet, that may change.
From The Washington Post
The report called the Justice Department and the attorney general’s office a “driving force” in making sure the Department of Homeland Security aggressively prosecuted adults arriving with children, findings that cast doubt on statements made by Sessions that the government “never really intended” to separate families."
They were a kind of typewriter that would type stories onto rolls of paper 24/7, 365 days a year.
When an especially important story arrived,a bell in the machine would ring. The number of rings depended on the importance of the story. As an AP background story about the system explains:
"A flash is our first word of a breaking story of transcendent importance, a story we expect to be one of the very top stories of the year. We average one or two flashes a year. They’re never more than one sentence, and frequently very condensed: “Bells ringing signaling election of a pope.”
In the old days when AP subscribers received news over teletype machines, a flash rang a series of bells on the machine, sending editors rushing to see what was happening. Usually there were 10 to 15 bells for a flash, but AP teletype operators had to type a “bell” symbol to trigger each ring, and in the excitement of a big story the number could vary."
I'm writing about it now because we had a "FLASH" story the other day....the first one can remember in a long time The previous Flash was identical except for the date and time:
At 8:34 p.m. ET on Wednesday, AP pushed out the news, “President Donald Trump impeached by US House of Representatives.”
And another flash came on Wednesday...Trump indicted again.
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This Week At The Capri Theatre
 MLK/FBI Fri - Mon: 4:00 & 7:00Dir: Sam Pollard Starring: Martin Luther King, Jr, J. Edgar Hoover 102mins DCPDr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered today as an American hero: a bridge-builder, a shrewd political tactician, and a moral leader. Yet throughout his history-altering political career, he was often treated by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies like an enemy of the state. In this virtuosic documentary, award-winning editor and director Sam Pollard lays out a detailed account of the FBI surveillance that dogged King’s activism throughout the ’50s and ’60s, fueled by the racist and red-baiting paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover. In crafting a rich archival tapestry, featuring some revelatory restored footage of King, Pollard urges us to remember that true American progress is always hard-won. |
Alabama U.S. Democratic Representative Terri Sewell got some great face-time during closing arguments in today's Impeachment closing arguments!
"National Guard units are being told to prepare for the possibility that improvised explosive devices will be used by individuals plotting to attack the Capitol in the days surrounding the Inauguration, according to two Guardsmen briefed this week.
The briefings indicate that Washington, D.C.-area law enforcement believe the IEDs planted last week at the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters were not an isolated incident. The individual who planted those bombs has yet to be apprehended, and FBI agents have been going door to door in D.C. this week asking residents for any photos or video they might have that could help identify the suspect, two of the residents told POLITICO."
FULL Story HERE.
We're #50!
We're #50!
We're #50!
We're #50!
Take a look at this CDC chart to see how few Alabamians have been vaccinated. (via The Washington Post)
I've been able to watch a lot...perhaps too much...of the coverage of the assault, the insurrection, at the Capitol building a week ago tomorrow. As with many of you, I have been angered, infuriated, and waiting to see how many people will be punished for taking part, or for not preventing it in the first place. The deaths and injuries! The physical damage and emotional toll.
Where was the National Guard? The Capitol police? The law and order the U.S. says it maintains?
Then, later in the day I stumbled across an international story from CBS News:
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| The Congo. |
"...six rangers working at Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo were ambushed (and killed) by a local militia group."My immediate reaction was to shake my head at the violence, at a country that can't keep safe the rangers, who's job it is to protect
Hmmm. Both sides of my brain collided. I had been following the failure of the U.S. Government to protect it's own legislative headquarters, despite having the most well funded military in the world ($934-Billion Dollars). Who was I to criticize The Congo, with a highest budget of $456-Million? If you're not impressed, remember the U.S. budget is in the Billions, the Congo's is in the Millions.
The last time the Tide won a national championship was 2018, and they did, despite a petition of some 70,000 names urging them to stay away.
But a LOT has changed in the interim. But first, is there even enough time for it to happen before the 20th? And secondly, it seems Trump may have a few other issues on his mind, like avoiding or dealing with a second impeachment.
Will the administration of President-elect Biden get up to speed fast enough for it to happen?
The company owns almost two-dozen Alabama radio stations.
The Cumulus talk station in Montgomery is WLWI.
From a Washington Post story:
"Cumulus Media, which employs some of the most popular right-leaning talk-radio hosts in the United States, has told its on-air personalities to stop suggesting that the election was stolen from President Trump — or else face termination.
A Cumulus executive issued the directive on Wednesday, just as Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s election victory and an angry mob of Trump supporters marched on the Capitol, overwhelmed police and briefly occupied the building, terrorizing lawmakers and leading to the deaths of five people.
“We need to help induce national calm NOW,” Brian Philips, executive vice president of content for Cumulus, wrote in an internal memo, which was first reported by Inside Music Media. Cumulus and its program syndication arm, Westwood One, “will not tolerate any suggestion that the election has not ended. The election has been resolved and there are no alternate acceptable ‘paths.’ ”
The memo adds: “If you transgress this policy, you can expect to separate from the company immediately.”
READ the whole story HERE.
Almost all Republican members of the Alabama Congressional Delegation will be losing financial campaign support.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said it would do the same. The provider of health insurance to more than 100 million people said in a statement that its political action committee was suspending contributions “to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville and U.S. Reps. Jerry Carl of Mobile; Barry Moore
of Enterprise; Mike Rogers of Saks; Robert Aderholt of Haleyville; Mo
Brooks of Huntsville and Gary Palmer all voted to sustain objections to
the state's electoral votes, won by President-elect Joe Biden.
FULL Washington Post story HERE.
IFC Films said Tuesday that it acquired North American rights to MLK/FBI, the Sam Pollard-directed documentary that premiered today at the Toronto Film Festival and will play at the New York Film Festival too. IFC Films will release the film on January 15, 2021, ahead of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday and the hope is to factor in the Oscar race.
MLK/FBI is the first film to uncover the extent of the FBI’s surveillance and harassment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Based on newly discovered and declassified files, utilizing a trove of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and unsealed by the National Archives, as well as revelatory restored footage, the documentary explores the government’s history of targeting Black activists, and the contested meaning behind some of our most cherished ideals. Featuring interviews with key cultural figures including former FBI director James Comey, MLK/FBI tells this astonishing and tragic story with searing relevance to our current moment.
The film was produced by Benjamin Hedin for Tradecraft Films in association with Field of Vision, Play/Action Pictures and Cinetic Media. Executive producers include David Friend, Field of Vision’s Charlotte Cook, Play/Action’s Jeffrey Lurie and Marie Therese Guirgis, and Cinetic Media’s Kate Hurwitz, Dana O’Keefe and Steven Farneth. Based on the book The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr.: From “Solo” to Memphis by David J. Garrow, MLK/FBI was written by Benjamin Hedin and Laura Tomaselli.
Pollard’s films include Four Little Girls, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, Slavery by Another Name, Sammy Davis, Jr.: I Gotta Be Me, ACORN and the Firestorm, Why We Hate, and Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children. He also directed two episodes of the series Eyes on the Prize II. Since 1994, Pollard has served on the faculty of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and lives in New York City.
“What an honor to have IFC support and distribute MLK/FBI,” Pollard commented. “I can’t think of any other company that will show the care and responsibility to get what I consider an important film out to a viewing audience.”
Arianna Bocco, EVP Acquisitions and Productions at IFC Films, added: “Sam Pollard has dedicated his career to social and political activism through film, and we’re honored to partner with him on a project of such magnitude and relevance in the current climate. We’re proud to bring this newly discovered information and restored footage of MLK to audiences nationwide, as his story continues to unfold, inspire and motivate throughout history.”
The deal for the film was negotiated by IFC’s Bocco and Director of Acquisitions Aijah Keith with Cinetic Media on behalf of the filmmakers.
“Republicans in Congress and across the nation played a direct role in setting the stage for today’s attempted coup at the United States Capitol. They did so deliberately through an extensive and unrelenting campaign of lies about the election. They repeatedly lied about the results. They lied about fraud. And now they are lying about an act of domestic terrorism. The last group to storm the U.S. Capitol were British soldiers more than 200 years ago. Today, we witnessed a homegrown attack on one of our most sacred institutions and an attempt to overthrow duly elected leaders in favor of a candidate who lost the election. Comparing it to other instances of unrest is a continuation of that disinformation campaign. Calling it anything else is merely a cowardly attempt to avoid responsibility. The hypocrisy of the GOP is beyond astounding. It is criminal. Republicans like Congressman Mo Brooks goaded the mob to “start taking names and kicking ass” in the morning, only to try to distance themselves from the “un-American” attacks later that day. The very people who added gasoline to an explosive situation and lit the match, then hide under their desks when the flames erupted. Talk about cowardly. Talk about un-American. Today, the party of “law and order,” the party that supposedly respects the heritage and time-honored traditions of this nation, incited violent attacks on law enforcement and encouraged the desecration of our seat of government. Congressman Brooks and any who joined him should resign now. If not, they should be removed from all committees or leadership positions. The peaceful transfer of power every four years is what truly makes our nation great. The attempted disruption of that sacred exchange today reminds us that our Democracy is under attack. And yet, on the very same day, we saw just how strong our Democracy still is. In Georgia, voters solidified the political transformation that began with the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris by giving us two new U.S. Senators and the Democrats a slim majority in the upper chamber. Congratulations to Senators-Elect Ossoff and Warnock. And thank you to the people of Georgia. Both events remind us Democracy can never be taken for granted. And they demand that we redouble our efforts to safeguard voting rights, ensure that the will of the people is delivered without delay, and continue to vote in every election.”
Rep. Anthony Daniels
Alabama Democratic Caucus
